Nursing bottle holder



y 7, 1953 G. 5. WHITE NURSING BOTTLE HOLDER Filed Feb. 28, 1950 I INVENTOR. EVE/V0047 5. M7775 Patented July 7, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE NURSING BOTTLE HOLDER Gwendolyn- S. White, Darlen, Conn.

Application February 28, 1950', Serial-No: 146,680

Claims (01.224-5) This invention relates to a holder or suppor ing device for nursing bottles, and more particularly to a holder or supportin device capable of being suspended. from the body of a person and constructed for easy insertion and. removal o a nursing bottle and so that the nursing bottle carried. thereby will be disposed in nursing po'-- sition relative to an infant cradled in the arm of the person.

It is an object of this invention to provide a nursing bottle support for supporting the bottle infront of a person in the position necessary for nursing an infant cradled in that persons arm, thereby freeing the hand normally supporting the bottle, so that the hand thereby freed..may be used in supporting the infant, or for any other purpose.

Another object of this invention is toprovide a nursing bottle support so constructed as to position. a nursing bottle disposed: in the support at the proper tilted position for feeding an infant cradled in the persons' arm.

A. further object is to provide a: nursing bottle support for carrying a nursing bottle in front of a person. in nursing position relative to an infant cradled in the persons arm,. and. constructed so as to hold. a bottle therein in. any of aD1u-- r'ality of tilted positions, the bottle being. movable from one tilted. position to another by Sim-- ple manipulation by the freehand of. the person feeding the infant.

Still another object of the invention is to pro vide a nursing bottle support formedv of a. slin within which. the: bottle is supported. and havingmeans: secured. thereto for engagement. with the body ofia. person to thereby position. the sling. and nursing bottle in nursing position relative:

to. an. infant cradled in the persons arm, and in which the sling: is so constructed as to permit the easy placement of. the nursing bottle therein. and to prevent the inadvertent disengagementof the bottle from the sling.-

A. still further object is to provide a nursingb'ottle support formed of a flexible sheet foldable along a medial line to provide asling: within which a nursing. bottle may be supported, and,

having separable fasteners at the opposite 1ong-itudinal edges for retaining the sheet in the sling. form; so that the fasteners may be separated and the flexible sheet disposed flat when the nursing bottle is being received to reduce the likelihood of contact between the bottle nipple a-ndpthe sheet, and also when the holder is being cleaned.

' Finallygit is an object of this inventiontoprovide anursing. bottle support of the' kind described having a moisture-proof interior and in which the construction is simple, sturdy, and

panying drawing which. forms a part hereof and inwhich': Figure 1 is a perspective view of a. nursing bottle support constructed according to this in-- vention,

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure: 1., Figure 3 is a plan view of a modified nursing bottle supportconstructedaccording to this i vention and showing the sling forming member in open position for easy cleansing thereof, or preparatory to receiving a nursing bottle, and Figure 4: is a perspective view of the modified nursing bottle support with the sling formingv member folded along. a medial line to providethe supporting sling.

erence characters indicate like parts, andv ini-- tially to Figures 1 and. 2 thereof, the nursing bottle support is generally indicated by the ref-.' erence character H1. The nursing bottle sup-.-

port It] includes: a sling shaped holder generally indicated by the reference: numeral H, and a" halter strap; generally indicated by the refer ence numeral l2.

The holder H is formed. of: a flexible sheet material, which may be any suitable fabric, such as cloth or plastic sheeting", but in the form shown is alaminated material including an outer covering Nb, and padding material H-c sandwiched be tween the covering and the lining The several layers are secured. together by the edge bin-ding tapes lid. The sheet material is folded upon itself into the shape ofa sling or holder II: hav ingside walls [3 and. M,- and a bottom or fold portion l5.-

the'si'des I3 and I4 are interconnected by a glisset l8 whichterminatesat a location away from the adjacentedge of the bottom or fold in so. as to define arestri'cted opening is through that'- Referring to the drawing, in. which like ref-" Ha, an; inner moisture proof lining One end ll; of the sling 1' thereby. formed is open.- At the other end ll of the. sling 3 end of the sling. The depth of the holder or sling at end It preferably is less than its depth at end I! so that the bottom or fold I5 will be inclined downwardly in the direction of op ing I 9 when the holder is in a normal position of use.

The halter strap I2 includes a relatively short portion 20 having an end thereof secured between the top edges of the side walls I3 and I4, adjacent end I6 of the sling I I, by the stitching 2I extending through these edges and strap portion 20. The stitching 2| also binds sides I3 and I 4 together at the top of the holder. A buckle or clamp 22 is attached to the free end of strap portion 20. The halter strap I2 also includes an elongated strap portion 23 secured between the top edges of side walls I3 and I4 adjacent end I! of the holder and preferably extending into the holder to form therein a depending loop 24 integral with one end of the strap 23. The strap 23 and the. ends of the loop 24 may be secured between the top edges of side walls I3 and I4 by stitching 25 which also binds the top edges of the holder or sling together adjacent end IT. The loop 24 has a length such that its bottom 26 is spaced a substantial distance above the underlying portion of bottom wall I5 of the sling. The free end 2'! of the strap portion 23 is adapted to be connected adjustably with the buckle 22, so that the effective length of the halter strap I2 may be varied easily by movement of the buckle 22 along the length of the strap portion 23.

In the use of the bottle supporting device illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, the halter strap I2 is engaged about the neck of a person preparing to feed an infant, so as to suspend the sling II in desired position at the front of the person where the sling will hold a nursing bottle accessible to the infant cradled in the nurses arm. A nursing bottle, generally indicated by the reference character B, may then be inserted freely into the sling II through the open end It of the latter. The nursing bottle B is generally formed with a neck portion C-of reduced diameter, upon which a nipple D is engaged. The bottle B is moved inwardly from the open end l6 of the sling along the bottom I5 of the latter until the reduced neck portion C and nippleD project outwardly through the restricted opening I9 formed in end ll of the sling. The restricted opening I9, while permitting the extension of the nipple D and the reduced neck portion C therethrough, is formed with a diameter smaller than the diameter of the body of the.

bottle B, and therefore keeps the bottle B from falling through the restricted opening I9. Since the bottom I5 of the sling II is inclined downwardly towards end I1 of the sling, as indicated in the drawing, the bottle B will be tilted downwardly towards the infant who has easy access to the nipple D. Whenever it is desired to tilt the bottle further for completion of a feeding, the nurse simply extends a hand through the open end I6 of the sling and tilts the bottle upwardly into the position shown in broken lines at B in Figure 1, and engages the lower end of the bottle within the loop 24. The bottle is then disposed in an extreme tilted position to cause its diminished contents to flow into the lowered nipple.

Referring now to Figures 3 and 4, a modified nursing bottle holder 30 is illustrated. The holder 30 is formed of a sheet M of flexible material, which may be any suitable fabric, such as cloth or plastic sheeting, or a laminated material such as that described in connection with holder II. The sheet 3|, as seen in Figure 3, is substantially quadrilateral, .and binding tape 32 extends around the four sides thereof. The mating portions 330. and 33b of snap fasteners, or other suitable separable fasteners, are spaced along the opposite side edges, respectively, of the sheet BI and secured thereto in a wellknown manner. While only'three of such fasteners are shown in the drawing, one in each of the opposite corners and the third midway therebetween, a greater number may be provided and spaced closer together.

It will be noted that the sheet 3! is not a parallelogram; but that the opposite side edges diverge slightly in the direction of the end edge 34. An elongated cross strap 35 has one end preferably secured to the sheet 3| at a point on end edge 34 spaced from the longitudinal median line M. The cross strap 35 is provided with a fastener portion 3811 at the free end thereof for engagement with the mating portion 36b carriedv by the sheet at a point spaced a distance from the median line substantially equal to the distance from the median line to the point at which, the strap is fixed. If desired, the strap 35 may be fixedly attached at both ends to the sheet, instead of having one end separable from the sheet, as in the illustrated embodiment.

A halter strap, similar to that recited in the description of the nursing bottle support of Figures 1 and 2, includes a relatively short portion 20a having an end secured bystitching or other means to the side edge 3! of the sheet at the end of the latter remote from the end edge 34. A

buckle or clamp 22a is attached to the free end of the strap portion 20a. The halter strap also includes an elongated portion 23a formed with a loop 24a on one end, which loop overlies the sheet 3| adjacent the edge 34 thereof. Strap portion 23a and the ends of the loop 24a may be secured by stitching, or otherwise, to the sheet adjacent the corner formed by end edge 34 and side edge 31. The loop 24a has a length substantially less than half the width of the sheet, so that the bottom of the loop will be spaced a substantial distance above the underlying portion of the bottom of the sling formed by the sheet 3I in a manner hereinafter set forth. The free end of the strap portion 23a may be adjustably connected to the buckle 22a.

' In the use of the modified bottle supporting device, sheet 3I is initially disposed fiat, as viewed in Figure 3, and the'nursing bottle B is laidthereon with the nipple D extending over the end edge 34. Since the sheet is spread wide, the nipple need not contact the surface of the sheet during this'operation, and may be maintained in a sanitary or sterilized condition. The cross strap 35 is then extended over the neck of the bottle and the fastener portions 36a. and 36b interengaged. The sheet 3I may then be folded upwardly along the medial line M and the side edges thereof secured together by engaging the fastener portions 33a with the mating'portions 33b.

When folded in this manner, th sheet forms a sling (Figure 4), freely open at one end and having a restricted opening 'at the bottom of the other end formed by the cross strap 35which prevents the bottle from falling through that other end of the sling. By reason of the divergence of the' side edges of the sheet, the bottom of the sling thus formed will incline downwardly towards the restricted opening. The-halter strap may be engaged about the neck of a personpreparing. to

feed an infant, and the modified'bott'leholding 1 device is then used in the manner set forth in connection with the initially describeddevic'e. At thecompletion of afeeding, the sheet 3 I forming: the slingmay again .be spread flatto facilitate the thorough cleaning thereof.

From the foregoing description of preferred embodiments of this invention, it will be evident that it provides a simple, convenient, and economical nursing bottle holder whereby a bottle being used for nursing may be supported from the body of a nurse holding the infant without any-discomfort to the infant or. th nurse, andyetso as to make one hand of the nurse completely free for other purposes.

While I have illustrated and described in de-' tail preferred embodiments of my invention, itwill be apparent that the new features of.con-" struction and combination herein set forth may be embodied in other forms of nursing bottle. supports, and I therefore desire that the invention be accorded a scope fully commensurate with its contribution to the art, which is intended tobedefined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A nursing bottle holder comprising a sling member open at one end for looselyreceiving a nursing bottle and having a bottom inclined downwardly towards the other end thereof, a restricted opening formed through said other end adjacent the bottom thereof through which the neck and nipple of a bottle resting on said inclined bottom may project, and means in said sling member, spaced upwardly from said bottom engageable with the backward end of the bottle for further tilting the bottle towards said restricted opening.

2 A nursing bottle holder comprising a sling member open atone end for loosely receiving a nursing bottle and having a bottom inclined downwardly towards the other end thereof, a restricted opening formed in the lower portion of said otherend through which the neck and nipple of a bottle supported in tilted position on said inclined bottom may project, and alooped member extending into said sling member and supported from the top of the latter, the bight portion of said looped member being spaced upwardly from the underlying inclined bottom and engageable under the backward end of the nursing bottle for further tilting the latter towards said restricted opening.

3. A nursing bottle holder comprising a sling member formed of a sheet of flexible material bent upwardly upon the medial line thereof to provide a bottom and a pair of side walls, said sling member being open at one end for loosely receiving a nursing bottle and said bottom being inclined downwardly towards the other end thereof, a restricted opening formed in said other end adjacent the bottom thereof through which the neck and nipple of a nursing bottle resting on said inclined bottom may project, a looped member extending into said sling member between the side walls thereof, the bight portion of said looped member being spaced upwardly from said inclined portion whereby said looped member when engaged about the backward end of a nursing bottle will further tilt the bottle towards said other end. and means securing the top of said looped member to the top edges of said side walls.

4. A nursingbottle supporting device comprising a flexible sling member open at one end for loosely receiving a nursing bottle and having a bottom inclined downwardly towards the other 6 end thereof, a gusset member extending across the upper portion of said other end to provide a restricted opening at the bottom of said other end through which. the neck and nipple of a nursing bottle supported in tilted position on said inclined bottom may extend, a looped member in said sling member adjacent said other end thereof and spaced upwardly from the underlying portion of said bottom of said sling member, said looped member being engageable about the backward end" of a nursing bottle disposed in said sling member to: thereby further tilt the bottle towards said restricted opening, and means secured to said sling. member and engageable about the neck of a person for supporting a nursing bottle disposed in said sling member in front of the person in nursing position relative to an infant cradled in the persons arms.

5a A nursing bottle supporting device comprising aflexible sling member open at one end for loosely receiving a nursing bottle and having a bottom inclined downwardly towards theother end thereof, a gusset member extending across the upper portion of said other'end to provide a restricted opening at the bottom of said other end through which the neck and nipple of a nursing bottle supported in tilted position on said in-' clinedbottom may extend, an elongated halter strap having one end secured to the top of said sling member adjacent said one end of the latter, the other end of said strap being reverted to form a looped member, said looped member extending into said sling member adjacent said other end of the latter and having the bight portion thereof spaced upwardly from the underlying portion of said inclined bottom, and means securing the top of said looped member to the top of said sling member whereby said looped member may engage about the backward end of a nursing bottle disposed in said sling member to thereby further til-t thebottle towards said restricted opening, said halter strap being engageable about th neck of a person for supporting a nursing bottle in said sling member infront of the person in nursing position relative to aninfant cradled in the persons arms. 7 v

6. Anursing bottle supporting device comprising a substantially quadrilateral sheet of flexible material; interengageable fastening means carried by said sheet at the opposite side edges thereof; an elongated flexible member; and securing means attaching the opposite ends of said elongated member to one end edge of said sheet at points on opposite sides of the longitudinal median line of the sheet and spaced substantially equidistant from said median line, the securing means on at least one end of said elongated member being separable whereby said sheet may be bent upwardly along said median line and said fastening means engaged to form a sling for receiving a nursing bottle, and whereby said elongated member when secured at its opposite ends to said end edge forms a restricted opening at the bottom of one end of the sling through which the neck and nipple of a bottle in the sling may project.

7. A nursing bottle supporting device comprising a substantially quadrilateral sheet of flexible material, the opposite side edges of said sheet diverging toward one end edge thereof; intere engageable fastening means carried by said sheet at said opposite side edges; an elongated flexible member having its opposite ends secured to said one end edge at points on opposite sides of, and substantially equidistant from, the longitudinal 7 median line of said sheet whereby said sheet may be bent upwardly alongsaid median line to form a sling for receiving a bottle with said elongated member forming a restricted opening at the bottom of one end thereof through which the'neck and nipple of the bottle may project, and whereby the bottom of the sling will be inclined downwardly towards the restricted opening for tilting the bottle in that direction.

8. A nursing bottle supporting device comprising a substantially quadrilateral sheet of flexible material; interengageable fastenin means carried by said sheet at the opposite side'edges thereof; an elongated flexible member having one end fixed to an end edge of said sheet at a point spaced from the longitudinal median line of the latter; means separably connecting the free end of said elongated member to said end edge at a point thereon disposed on the side of said median line opposite from the point of attachment of said one end of the elongated member; and a looped member secured to said sheet at one of the side edges thereof and overlying said sheet, said looped member terminating short of said longitudinal median line whereby said sheet may be bent upwardly along saidmedian line to'form a sling for receiving a nursing bottle with said elongated member forming a restricted opening at one end through which the neck and nipple of the bottle may project, and whereby said looped member may be engaged under the backward end of the bottle for tilting the latter towards said restricted opening.

9. A nursing bottle holder comprising a flexible polygonal sling member adapted to be suspended along an upper edge portion'thereof from the body of a person holding an infant, said member being formed of a substantially rectangular piece of flexible sheet material folded upon itself substantially along a transverse medial line'of the piece and having its end margins brought together to provide an elongated upper edge portion and a lower sling portion extending therealong to hold a nursing bottle placed loosely thereon, means for connecting said end margins together along said upper edge portion, the opposing side margins of the folded piece at one end of said member forming a free opening below said upper edge portion to receive freely a hand inserting a nursing bottle into the sling portion, and strap means for interconnecting the opposing side margins of the folded piece at the other end of said member so as to retain a bottle therein yet form at that endadjacent the bottom of said member a restricted opening through which the neck and nipple of the bottle may. project for access by the infant, said strap means being fixed permanently to one of the latter side margins and carrying detachable connecting means for attachment to the other of such side margins.

10. A nursingbottle holder formed of a substantially rectangular sheet of flexible material folded upon itself along a transverse medial line thereof to provide a looped bottom portion to support loosely a nursing bottle thereon and a pair of side walls the end margins of which meet to form an elongated upper edge portion for the holder, means connected with and extending from said upper edge portion for suspending the holder from the body of a person holding an infant, means interconnecting said end margins along said upper'edge, opposing portions of said walls below said edge being free at one end of said member so as to form an end opening to receive freely a hand inserting a nursing bottle into said bottom portion, and gusset means interconnecting portions of said side walls spaced above the bottom portion at the other end of said sling member so as to retain a bottle therein yet 'form a restricted opening below the gusset means through which the neck and nipple of the bottle may project for access by the infant.

GWENDOLYN S. WHITE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 784,914 Boyle Mar. 14, 1905 2,182,164 Rosenberg- Dec. 5, 1939 2,362,020 Morrow Nov. 7, 1944 2,462,187 Helixon Feb. 22, 1949 2,494,632 Rodin Jan. 1'7, 1950 2,518,862 Cain et a1 Aug. 15, 1950 

